


Love in a serenade

by HopeSilverheart



Series: Loving Em at 2AM [98]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire (Teen Wolf), Blink and you'll miss it, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, F/F, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Girls in Love, Hale Family Feels, Humour, Laura Hale Lives, Lydia plays the piano, Piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26821573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart
Summary: Then Laura started playing, and…It wasn’t great. She was clearly hesitant, her fingers fumbling over the keys every few seconds, and her nervousness wasn’t helping her case. Thankfully, the French tune she’d chosen was relatively simple and Lydia could still make it out despite Laura’s mistakes, and honestly-Honestly, she couldn’t have cared less about how imperfect the piece was.Or: Lydia loves the piano, and Laura loves Lydia.
Relationships: Laura Hale/Lydia Martin
Series: Loving Em at 2AM [98]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764400
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	Love in a serenade

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thatnerdemryn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatnerdemryn/gifts).



> Flufftober Prompt 4: Music

Lydia had never known why the Hales had a piano. She had always assumed it was more of a way to show their wealth than anything else, and no one had ever proven her wrong.

Derek and Cora – the only Hales Lydia spent a significant amount of time with – certainly didn’t play, and they’d never mentioned any of their siblings being a fan of the instrument, so Lydia had – for the most part – forgotten all about the beautiful piano.

It wasn’t until four years into her friendship with Cora that the topic came up again.

They’d been having one of their monthly supernatural meetings – which were mostly a formality, since nothing of great importance happened in Beacon Hills – when Stiles had mentioned taking up the piano and Laura had perked up, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

“Really, Stilinski?” She grinned. “I never pegged you for a musician, no matter how skilled those hands of yours must be. Are you sure it’s the _piano_ you want to be learning?”

“Shut up, Laura,” Derek grumbled. “If Stiles wanted something else, he wouldn’t be afraid to ask for it. Right, babe?”

“ _Babe,”_ Lydia laughed underneath her breath, exchanging an amused look with Allison. Stiles’ and Derek’s relationship was still relatively new, and nothing was more entertaining than watching the two of them stumble through the first steps of going from friends to lovers.

“Children, could we please stay on track?” Talia sighed from her place at the head of the table. “I know none of you enjoy these meetings, but I think we have better things to do with our time than listen to your romantic troubles.”

“To be fair, we were actually talking about the merits of Stiles learning an instrument in order to get the sirens to leave the river alone,” Scott pointed out, raising his hands up in surrender when all the adults turned to stare at him, looking utterly unimpressed. “Just saying. Besides, why on earth are the sirens all the way over here? Shouldn’t they be in a lake somewhere? Maybe at that place near your grandmother’s house, Lydia. Have you ever had sirens over there?”

“Firstly, I’ve only been to that house a grand total of three times in the past five years,” Lydia rolled her eyes. “Secondly, how the hell would I know? I go there to party, not to hunt the supernatural.”

“You know, I could always give it a try,” Laura piped up, preening a little when every pair of eyes in the room turned towards her. “I play the piano; if you can find me a keyboard, I’m sure I could get rid of those sirens in no time. It would certainly be faster than having Stilinski try to learn the instrument while my brother distracts him.”

As the rest of the group started debating on the merits and the downfalls of Laura’s idea, Lydia kept her gaze fixed on the older woman. She had never considered her to be a musical kind of girl, and she was struggling to imagine her sitting at a piano, letting her fingers dance their way through a song effortlessly.

It wasn’t that Lydia didn’t think Laura was talented with her hands, because _god knew_ that wasn’t true. Laura could pull sounds out of Lydia that she hadn’t thought were possible, and she’d done it all with a smile on her face. The piano, however, was different.

Firstly, Lydia found it hard to believe that in all her years of knowing the Hales and her months of sneaking into Laura’s room at night, she wouldn’t have heard the other woman play a single time. Music wasn’t something one could hide from themselves, Lydia thought. It was something that showed in the way a person hummed under their breath or unconsciously danced along to little tunes or couldn’t quite keep their fingers still.

Laura, for all her talents, didn’t have any of that. She was beautiful and strong and wonderful in all kinds of ways, but Lydia highly doubted that her piano skills were anything like what Laura was making them out to be.

However, as she looked at the half-proud, half-anxious look on the other woman’s face, she realised there was something else she hadn’t taken into consideration. Because even as the adults spoke to and around her, Laura kept flicking her gaze back in Lydia’s direction, almost as though she were waiting for a reaction.

And it occurred to Lydia right there and then that Laura _hadn’t_ known how to play the piano, but there was a good chance she had started learning after Lydia had told her of her love for the instrument. Honestly, it was quite sweet. Lydia just hoped Laura didn’t make a fool out of herself in front of everyone else just to serenade Lydia.

“You know what?” She smiled, standing up suddenly and drawing everyone’s attention onto herself. “I think Laura should give me a little preview of what she had in mind. I wouldn’t want us all to stop the meeting for something like this, but it might be a good idea for her to go over her favourite piece one more time before we come to a decision about the siren problem.”

“That sounds like a lovely idea,” Laura’s dad beamed, nudging his eldest daughter gently and pushing her in Lydia’s direction. “I’ve heard you practise a few times so I know you’re not completely helpless, but a little extra rehearsal never hurt anyone, right?”

“Right,” Laura said slowly, levelling her father with a suspicious stare. Lydia only rolled her eyes; if the older woman thought her parents hadn’t figured their relationship out weeks earlier, she was a fool. There was no hiding a secret romance from the Hale parents. “We’ll be back soon.”

“Oh please, take all the time you need,” Talia waved them away absent-mindedly. “We’ll focus on another topic until you come back. Or we could always wait until next week; it’s not like we’re in a real hurry to get rid of the sirens. They’re mostly friendly, just a little too territorial.”

“Perfect,” Lydia clapped her hands together, linking her hands with Laura’s casually as she dragged the werewolf out of the room and towards the music room – which Lydia _still_ wasn’t sure was of any use, since most of the instruments were old and dusty. “This is going to be so much fun. I wasn’t aware that you played the piano.”

“Oh you know, it’s just a little something I’ve picked up on in the last couple of weeks,” Laura shrugged nonchalantly, although Lydia wasn’t sure who she was trying to fool with that tone. Lydia could almost _smell_ the nervousness wafting from the other woman, no werewolf senses needed. “You really didn’t need to drag us out of here. I could have always rehearsed on my own once everyone was gone.”

“But then you wouldn’t have gotten to woo me with your incredibly piano skills,” Lydia grinned widely, settling against one edge of the large piano as Laura anxiously sat down in front of it.

“I’ve never claimed to be trying to woo you, Lydia,” Laura pointed out, her dismissive words a complete contrast to her trembling voice. “Just because we sleep together doesn’t mean I suddenly want to take you on dates and play romantic ballads for you.”

“Oh really?” Lydia grinned. “Tell me, what song are you going to play for me today? A jazz song, maybe?”

“The song doesn’t mean anything,” Laura scoffed and, had she been the type of woman to blush, Lydia didn’t doubt that she would have been a bright red. “It’s just an easy tune that I chose when I started learning. And you’re the one who dragged me here; for all you know, I could have been planning on playing for Allison or Scott or someone else.”

“Right, Allison and Scott, your two favourite people in the world,” Lydia smirked. “Just play the song, Laura, I swear I won’t make fun of you even if it’s an involuntary declaration of love on your part.”

Had she truly been herself right then, Laura would have snapped back at Lydia, said something sarcastic or somehow turned the situation back again the banshee. The fact that she _didn’t_ do that, instead focusing on the keys in front of her, told Lydia everything she needed to know.

And then she started playing, and…

It wasn’t great. Laura was clearly hesitant, her fingers fumbling over the keys every few seconds, and her nervousness wasn’t helping her case. Thankfully, the French tune she’d chosen was relatively simple and Lydia could still make it out despite Laura’s mistakes, and honestly-

Honestly, she couldn’t have cared less about how imperfect the piece was. Did it really matter? Did it, when Laura had clearly poured her heart and soul into recreating something in just a few weeks? The werewolf could say whatever she wanted to about their relationship, but it was impossible to deny that something had been growing between them, and it had long since passed the stage of ‘just friends with benefits’.

As Laura played and played, forcing herself to get to the end even as she struggled with the last part of the song, Lydia felt herself fall a little deeper in love with the older woman. She wasn’t even sure _when_ she had started loving Laura as more than a secret companion, but she certainly wasn’t complaining.

There was something about Laura right then, sitting in a beautifully lit room, letting her usually dexterous fingers drag their way through a song, that was absolutely _magical_. Lydia couldn’t quite explain what she was feeling at that moment, but she was almost certain it was important. She just hoped Laura felt it too.

By the time the song came to an end, Lydia had completely forgotten about the errors and the imperfection of the piece in favour of staring at Laura in awe. She suddenly realised that whatever was happening between them had been happening for quite some time, because _this_? This wasn’t something one got to in the space of a single song.

The way Lydia’s heart beat, the way her legs felt a little weaker than usual, the way her breath came out in small pants, everything pointed to Lydia already being deep in love. And if that was the case, then she had missed a thousand hints along the way.

Thankfully, it seemed she was finally being given a chance to fix that.

“That was perfect,” she breathed out, smiling softly at Laura and moving to stand closer to her, only hesitating for an instant before sliding gracefully onto the piano seat next to the werewolf. “Seriously, I can’t believe you learned all of that in just a few weeks.”

“It’s far from perfect,” Laura bit down on her bottom lip in an uncharacteristic show of shyness. “I just- Look, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t learn all of this for you. It might be a little crazy, and I know it’s not what either of us signed up for, but you told me you loved the piano and I immediately felt compelled to come here and learn something for you and-”

“Hey,” Lydia cut Laura off with a small smile and gently placed her hand on top of the other woman’s. “I get it. And just because you’re not an accomplished pianist quite yet doesn’t mean you didn’t do an amazing job or that I don’t appreciate the effort, because I really do. This means a lot to me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Lydia nodded, taking a deep breath before continuing. “But if you want… I could show you a few things?”

For a second, Laura only blinked at her confusedly, looking from Lydia’s face to their joined hands. Just as Lydia was about to explain herself, Laura’s mouth dropped open and a look of understanding entered her eyes.

“You play,” she whispered, looking even more embarrassed than she had minutes earlier. “Oh my god, I’m an idiot.”

“No you’re not,” Lydia chuckled, letting her thumb trace a soothing circle into Laura’s hand before moving their hands into the song’s starting position. “You did something incredibly sweet, and all I’m asking is whether or not you want to practise some more so you can stun everyone when we go to face the sirens. I can’t promise I’ll be the best teacher, but I’ll certainly try.”

“You could always take care of the sirens yourself,” Laura suggested, raising her eyebrows incredulously. “I mean, why send an amateur like myself out there when we could have _you_?”

“Because then I’d have to reveal my secret talent,” Lydia winked. “And I think you look far too pretty playing the piano for us not to take advantage of that. Those sirens won’t know what hit them. So, do you want the lessons or should I leave you to practise alone?”

“As if I could ever turn down a lesson from you,” Laura scoffed. “As long as you promise to show me what you can really do once you’ve helped me.”

“Well of course,” Lydia grinned. “I’ve got to prove that I can serenade you too.”

“I don’t doubt that you can,” Laura answered softly.

And although Lydia _did_ play a few songs for Laura that night, once the werewolf had run out of patience for their lessons, she didn’t think a single one of her pieces could live up to the raw beauty of the one Laura had played for her.

Maybe she was biased, but Lydia thought the only thing that could possibly match the siren’s haunting tunes was the heartfelt hesitance and pure love behind every single one of Laura’s notes.

**Author's Note:**

> Heya guys! Thank you so much for reading! As always, these fics are unedited and unbetaed so please excuse any mistakes. I've never written Laura/Lydia before, but Em suggested it and I was unable to resist it, so I hope this was okay! I'm not sure about Laura's characterisation since we know so little about her, but I'm hoping I didn't do too bad of a job. Hope you all enjoyed this!
> 
> Love, Junie. 
> 
> (find me on [tumblr](https://hopesilverheart.tumblr.com/))


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